The present invention relates to a vehicle which runs along a way such as a track, road surface or the like, and also to a high-speed transport system which uses such a vehicle.
In general, a conventional vehicle which runs on a road surface has an internal combustion engine which produces torque, e.g., a gasoline engine. The output torque of the engine is transmitted to a driving wheel or wheels through an automatic or manual transmission. The output torque of the engine is derived from energy generated by combustion of a compressed air-fuel mixture. The combustion of the fuel-air mixture not only generates noise but also produces exhaust gases which the environment.
In order to alleviate this problem, an electrically-propelled vehicle has been produced in which an electric motor is substituted for the gasoline engine to produce torque without generation of noise and exhaust gases. More specifically, this type of vehicle carries an electric motor together with a power supply such as a series of batteries, the motor generating driving torque which is transmitted to driving wheels to propel the vehicle. The level of noise, therefore, is very low and no exhaust gas is generated at all.
This type of vehicle, however, still suffers from the disadvantage that, since the propelling force is generated through friction between the road surface and the tires of the driving wheels, the tires wear down, particularly when heavy loads are applied. In addition, tire wear is accelerated when the vehicle runs at higher speeds. This creates a practical limit to the running speed of the vehicle.
Another problem is that the performance of the vehicle is limited by the electrical power supply. For instance, the vehicle can run only a short distance when batteries are used as the power supply.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle which can run a long distance at high speed without substantial tire wear, as well as a high-speed transport system which uses such a vehicle.
Linear motor cars have been proposed in recent years, as vehicles which can operate along a track without contacting it. The linear motor car, as well as a high-speed transport system using such a linear motor car, employs floating coils laid on the track for floating the vehicle and propulsion coils laid along both sides of the track in such a manner as to sandwich the vehicle therebetween so as to propel it. Thus, known linear motor cars essentially require two kinds of coils, one for floating and one for propulsion, as well as a complicated system for energizing successive propulsion coils in the direction of motion of the vehicle. Moreover, it is necessary to lay a large number of floating and propulsion coils along the track. Consequently, an impractically large cost is required for building up such a track.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle and a high-speed transport system which are improved to reduce the cost for laying the track.